Changing Contracts: The Easy Way Out?

Originally Published in July 2009

Many employers are looking ahead and realising that, in order to ensure their businesses can cope when the economy recovers, they need to retain the staff they have worked so hard to recruit and train. They are therefore considering alternatives to redundancy, such as flexible working, sabbaticals and pay cuts. Whilst this is an attractive alternative approach, employers need to be aware that exploring these sorts of options can involve just as many, if not more, legal pitfalls as undertaking a redundancy exercise. So what should you do to ensure you stay on the right side of the law when looking at creative alternatives to redundancy?

Avoid contractual changes altogether